The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-10-13
FACTS ABOUT CANDY.
Interesting Information. Picked Up By
New York Reporter.

.
New York Reporter.
There is more money in molasses
candy at the ordinary selling prices
than in any other kind.
Close to molasses candy come choco-
late drops, caramels and other candies
in which sugar and chocolate or plain
tlavors are the ingredients. The candies
on which there is the least profit in
proportion to the selling price are those
which sell high. The best confectioners'
sugar costs but little over six cents a
pound, and the best grades of mOlasses
are not dear. They and u little flavor
ing make molasses candy, and that is
why there is so much profit in it.
There is another particular besi6 S
good grades of molasseS or sugar and
flavoring that makes big difference in
the quality of candy and would account
for the superiority of some candy over
others. That is the quality of the but
ter. Cheap confectioners do not use
butter at all. There are plenty of SUBJ
stltutes for it, but none answers entire
ly. One of the best known candy men
in New York, who has built up a large
business, starting from small taffy
shop, thinks that his use of fifty-cent
butter in his molasses candy has done
more to build up his trade reputation
than any thing else. He gives as the
keynote of candy success pure ma
terials, fruit sirups and fine BUTTER
As much candy of the best grades is
sold in summer as in winter, if not
more. The candy stores down town do
big summer business, as business
men buy candy there for their wives
out of town, and young clerks send a
box every little while to their girl who
is off at some summer resort. In the
winter the bulk of the trade is by the
women themselves. who cause more
trouble than the men. and do not buy
so much of the highest price. When a
man is buying candy he asks for the
best, while a woman prices the candies
as she does every thing else.
A woman's candy store can always
be told from mans candy store by
noticing whether there is soda-water
fountain and some tables to sit down
at. A man does not 60 to candy
store but to a drug store for whatever
soda-water he may want, while woman
prefers a candy store to have soda
water and ice cream attachment. Some
of the candy stores are accused of run
ming liquor attachments in the back
room reserved for ice cream tables, but
as men do not 60 there a male reporter
has no way of finding out except by
hearsav whether there is secret for
men in the guise of An ice cream parlor.
The best paid man in candy estab-
lishment is the designer of new candies.
His pay is $50 or $50 week, while the
foreman of the factory receives only
$50 OF $40. There is always demand
for new candies with new names. Each
new thing invented has its run of pop
ularity for little while, and then is
succeeded by something else. The
candy man who puts the most taking
novelties on the market at the right
time is the one who makes money.
There is a constant demand not only
for new candies but for new favors
and designs in old standbys. Molasses
candy is as old as any form of confec-
tionery, yet there are new flavors and
forms of it appearing every little while.
and caramels and chocolates continually
turn up with some French name pre-
fixed to them. A man who can invent
such things is worth money, and is
rare.-N. Y EUening Sun.